I spent Friday high in the Peak District in glorious sunshine learning how to build a drystone wall. The day was filled with the language of 'throughs', 'fillers', 'builders', 'copes' and 'cheek ends'. I'll never look at a drystone wall in the same way again. What we ended up with was a beautiful (even though I say it myself) 6m stretch of wall that will hopefully last for decades. Not only was this a useful learning experience for me but the wall which we were repairing was on a farm belonging to a charity supporting ex-offendors and people with spinal injuries.

As a designer its great to learn from an expert in this type of construction and to have a go yourself. I'm therefore planning on constructing my own drystone wall as part of a re-design of my own garden. The good thing about it is that I know if I don't get it right first time I can always pull it down and start again. I can see many hours of walling ahead!